“We’re all familiar with what we’ll need security cameras for: in the police station, within the jail cells, secure locations or high visibility points, and on the administration side (of the building) where transactions of money are made,” said Finance Director Brian Shapiro.

Shapiro and borough Manager Timi Kirchner told council’s administration and finance committee that they’re working with several vendors to negotiate a contract for those cameras and a card access system for employees to use in the new complex — in Shapiro’s words, “so the proper employees can access the proper areas, so admin (department) employees aren’t running around in the jail cells, so people have proper access to where they need to be.”

While contractors are currently erecting the steel frame of the future combined police station and office building, they’re getting to the point where conduits for electric and cable lines will need to be laid out in the proper places.

Advertisement

“We need that infrastructure piece now, to look at the shop drawings and make sure we’re right where we need to be as far as conduit buses, where to run the wires, size of wires, things of that nature,” said Electric Superintendent Andy Krauss.

Shapiro and Kirchner said the security contract for council approval will likely come in two parts, one for a professional services contract to hire an expert to guide that process, and the rest in a contract for the equipment and materials itself. The combined cost will likely be on the order of $200,000 and would likely be funded by the 2012 capital project bond meant to fund construction of the center, Shapiro said.

That professional services contract will likely come before council June 18 for approval, with the equipment part of the contract likely to be vetted and voted on in July. Another soft cost component of the new police station will be upgraded digital radio equipment, which police Chief Robert McDyre said will tie together with upgrades currently being led by Montgomery County.

“Basically all of the radio equipment we have in the station, by coincidence, needs to be replaced by 2015 anyway,” said McDyre. His department has budgeted roughly $40,000 per year in each of the last several years for those upgrades, but has yet to spend any of that money, and the upgraded equipment would replace a dispatch station originally designed in the 1950s and a voice data logging system that still runs Windows 2000 software, McDyre said. He, Kirchner and Shapiro said they will vet proposals from vendors before making a recommendation to council.

Administration and finance also recommended council approve two change orders related to the municipal complex project, one for roughly $28,000 to cover costs spent during the winter storms when construction crews were required to maintain equipment but could not work, and another for roughly $19,000 to extend a gas line to serve the complex. Committee member Leon Angelichio voted against the gas line change order after saying he thought the cost was too high for the work involved.

Shapiro also reported that budget figures for operational costs are tracking normally through the first five months of the year, with the exception of reserve expenditures caused by winter weather.

CODE ENFORCEMENT

Council’s Code Enforcement and Land Planning committee discussed at length an outdoor dining ordinance that could allow restaurants in town to have seating on public sidewalks, and the possibility that code could also require changes to open container rules within the borough. Director of Community Development John Ernst also reported several statistics describing his department’s activities in May: issued were 25 building permits, five for plumbing, seven for mechanical, six for electrical, eight certificates of occupancy, five for zoning, eight for signs, six for curb and sidewalk work, four citations, and 37 door hangers to residents and businesses in town. The building permits are starting to increase thanks to an uptick in the local economy, Ernst said, and “the number of door hangers at this time of year is usually at its peak because of long grass,” and residents who have yet to start mowing regularly.

COMMUNICATION COMMISSION

Councilman Denton Burnell reported to council June 4 that the Communication Commission has started to evaluate statistics from the recently revamped borough website Lansdale.org, and are continuing discussions with the North Penn Water Authority about designs that could go on the authority’s water tank near Third Street and Richardson Avenue when it is repainted in 2015.

The Lansdale public Library is now looking into another option to allow for access to its roof to make repairs.

Library Director Tom Meyer told council that instead of an internal hatch to provide access to the library’s roof, contractors have now suggested a permanent ladder attached to the outside of the building, which will be secured when not in use. He and Fuller, the committee chair, also reported that the library committee is organizing several events including its Clean and Green recycling festival on July 19 and a series of presentations on the First World War, to be led by former councilman Mike Sobel starting Aug. 12.

The library also plans to honor late employee Lois Weber with a memorial garden outside the library during the borough’s Founders Day celebrations on Aug. 23, Fuller said, and have hired two part-time summer employees to replace a full-time employee who has left. Borough council may need to meet in its capacity as the library’s board of trustees in June or July to approve permits for a wine tasting event at the library on Founders Day, Fuller said, and staff are looking into the possibility of selling for scrap a bronze book currently stored in the library basement since the inscription on the book of a previous library board cannot be altered or erased.

PARKS AND RECREATION

Parks and Recreation staff and its council committee are working through arrangements for a private rental of the Whites Road pool by the North Penn Aquatic Club, and Fuller reported as chair of the Parks committee that pool drain covers have already been replaced at Whites Road in accordance with federal laws, and will soon be replaced at the Fourth Street pool.

Council’s Public Safety committee discussed possible changes to the borough’s Open Container ordinance in light of the ongoing outdoor dining code discussion, and heard from police Chief McDyre that a stop sign may need to be removed on Vine Street as part of the ongoing Wood-Vine Connector Route project. That committee also approved the Fairmount Fire Company’s 24th annual Under the Lights car show, to be held on June 21 along West Main Street from Broad Street to Valley Forge Road, and a 5K run by the PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce to be held between 8:30 and 10 a.m. on Dec. 6.

Public Safety is still discussing, and police are still investigating, requests for handicapped parking spaces on the 400 block of Perkiomen Avenue and the 100 block of East Second Street, council could vote June 18 to approve a no-parking zone on the 500 block of Green Street, and work continues on a revamp of borough parking regulations and on a nuisance property ordinance. Police have also looked into resident concerns about accident frequency on Line Street and Seventh Street, and statistical analysis shows no increase in accidents over the past five years, but police will add speed enforcement measures in that area, according to McDyre and committee chair Tom Work.

PUBLIC WORKS

Council’s Public Works committee discussed the stormwater management ordinance required by Pennsylvania’s Act 167, and committee Chair Steve Malagari gave updates on several ongoing construction projects. Reconstruction of Jenkins Avenue is ongoing and paving will likely take place in late July or early August, according to Malagari, and paving is slated for late June on the portion of West Eighth Street currently being rebuilt.

The traffic signal at Main and Wood Streets will likely be activated in late summer, Malagari said, and bids have been received for an upgraded pumping station at Whites Road which are currently being evaluated by staff for possible council action on June 18.

Lansdale Borough Council next meets at 7 p.m. on June 18, with the various council committees meeting starting at 7 p.m. on July 2 at the North Penn School District’s Educational Services Center, 401 E. Hancock Street. Council’s Economic Development Committee, Communication Commission and Planning commission also meet starting at 6:30 p.m. on June 16 at the Wissahickon Park building, 765 East Main Street. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.Lansdale.org or follow @LansdalePA on Twitter.